Geotoken
Encyclopedia
Geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world....
. The idea for geotokens was inspired by the geocoin
Geocoin
A geocoin is a metal or wooden coin minted in similar fashion to a medallion, token coin, military challenge coin or wooden nickel, for use in geocaching...
as a less expensive alternative. They are homemade with a personalized design for the specific geocaching player or team. The design is printed on paper, cut out, and then laminated in stiff clear plastic.
Each geotoken displays information about the geocaching player or team including their home town, how long they have been involved in the sport, and several geocaching milestones referenced by cache waypoints. Usually geotokens are serially numbered and it is a common practice to place tokens in caches matching the token number with the current number of caches found by the player or team. When found by other geocachers, the tokens can be traded for other items in subsequent caches or kept as collectables. There is usually a message on the reverse side encouraging the finder to email the token's owner to let them know of its latest whereabouts.
Geotokens became popular in Northeastern Utah and Southwestern Wyoming and the idea has spread from there. The use of geotokens and geocoins has inspired other geocachers to devise other signature items of many kinds to place in geocaches and thereby mark their visit. Signature items of any kind are often favorite items for which to trade.